8.8: IGN and Gamespot gave Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 a 4.5 and 3.5, respectively. Gamespot's score is an especially sore point, as it gave Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) a 4.0. The "inferior" Playstation 2/Wii version (by Dimps of Sonic Rush fame), however, averaged 7.1.

Angst? What Angst?: Sonic is pretty mellow about Eggman completely beating him and his nightly transformations. Maybe beating down pieces of a Cosmic Horror is a great stress reliever?

Base-Breaking Character: Chip. Some find him and his relationship with Sonic over the course of the game to be adorable and heartwarming, others hate him for being an annoying, unfunny Exposition Fairy with a very unfitting English voice.

For Daytime bosses, the Egg Lancer, and that goes for both versions. It's a very challenging and elaborate boss fight with sections involving wall-running, dodging lasers, and making successful quick time events to do massive damage to the boss. It's quite telling that it's arguably far more elaborate and challenging than the final boss of Sonic Colors.

For Werehog bosses, the Egg Dragoon, due to the awesome music, the epic scale, and the incredibly satisfying QTEs. Plus, Eggman gets to be the Climax Boss!

Best Level Ever: The general consensus for either version seems to be Rooftop Run Day. Apparently SEGA was listening, because Rooftop Run Day Act 1 is in Sonic Generations.

Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In the cutscene where Sonic and Tails learn Professor Pickle's been kidnapped, Chip says he'd rather be dead than hungry, and proceeds to die and become a ghost, before reverting back to normal with no acknowledgement.

Broken Base: Do yourself a favor, don't ask the online fanbase if this game is good or not. Another point of contention is Wii/PS2, with many arguments over whether the game is better than the HD version, not as good but good in its own right, or an abomination that never should have been made.

While the HD version of the game got lower scores in average than the SD version, the fans thought the opposite.

Quite a bit of fans believe the whole game was good, while the critics and other fans say it was bad. May or may not overlap with Critical Backlash.

Zig-zagged: While most fans on the Internet feel that the HD versions were superior, the Wii version got the most sales. This was likely due to the fact that by the time the game released, the Nintendo and Sonic fanbases had largely become Friendly Fandoms.

Demonic Spiders: Dark Titans (incredibly powerful and can stunlock Sonic to death), Killer Bees (incredibly hard to hit and ridiculously damaging), and Fire Masters (need to be put out with a water barrel, otherwise just touching them will set you on fire).

Ear Worm: The intro to the Werehog battle theme, which will play over and over again for every scrap you get into as the Werehog. Da-da-DAH da DAH daaa da-da-DAAAAAAAHHHH DAH!

At least for Werehog stages in the HD version, once the player unlocks a certain move (Dash + Jump + Straight attack), there is really no fight in the game that will give him/her any trouble. It hits harder than the average attack and has massive knockback and hitstun. To put this in perspective, it stuns Dark Titans out of any of their attacks except the jump shockwave.

The Wii/PS2 version doesn't even take as long to obtain the game-breaker, as your dash attack is all you'll really need in most fights.

Genius Bonus: Remember Popping Eggcorn sold at Eggman Land? Well, "eggcorn" is a real word. It was coined in 2003, meaning the word was only five years old before it appeared in Sonic Unleashed. It's used to describe a phrase that is mangled but still working in the original context on some level.

Goddamned Bats: Fittingly, the Electric Bat and Dark Bat Sniper enemies (in contrast to their Helpful Mook relative). Also, enemies like Frights and Rexes can be annoying in large numbers. Let's just say the vast majority of the mooks in this game basically fit this trope, when it comes to the werehog levels anyway.

Good Bad Bugs: Not a bug per se, but traveling salesman Wentos can be exploited for nearly infinite rings, cutting the level grinding time required to unlock special moves considerably.

Jason Griffith, after years of criticism of his Sonic voice, demonstrates the ability to actually be a fairly emotional Sonic. According to him, he took some voice training after the completion of Sonic '06, and it certainly paid off well. A pity that the game was the last main series game before the 4Kids contract expired.

More impressive, he explains in this interview that he had to do all of the game's lines with a strep throat.

There was an episode of Timon & Pumbaa where Pumbaa was succumbing to "the curse of the werehog." Fast forward to 2008...

Also from Disney, we have Mickey's evil twin Julius in Runaway Brain, who has a small resemblance to the Werehog.

The codename for the first Crash Bandicoot was "Sonic's Ass" (since it was going to be a Mascot with Attitude platformer that's like a 2D game rotated, and that forward progress involves seeing the character's backside all the time). This game is one of the first Sonic games that's a "Sonic's Ass" game (at least with the daytime stages).

It's Hard, So It Sucks: The daytime stages are often criticized for being too fast, as the game throws a lot of reflex-based obstacles at you with barely any time to react, and the speed blur exacerbates the problem by making them harder to see coming. Later boost-based games have toned the speed down because of this.

The Werehog battle theme can also apply due to how it plays at the beginning of every single normal fight in the game (besides bosses and Eggmanland). Simply play the opening notes around someone who's played through Unleashed and you'll inevitably get a reaction.

Sonic's "whoo"s in either version when you use the boost, although arguably more notable in the Wii/Playstation 2 version since you can't extend the boost by holding the button, and thus have to press boost more often.

Werehog. Battle. Theme. A decent piece of music in and of itself, but you will hear it so many times...

The near-constant sound effect of Chip's wings flapping during the cutscenes can be a bit grating.

While Dark Gaia is creepy looking in its own right his Perfect form is really horrifying, especially the transformation scene mentioned below.

Also the later part of the opening cinematic is pretty tense as well, with Eggman showing that he's not so harmless by painfully forcing Sonic out of his Super state (although the previous mentioned Memetic Mutation can makes this Nightmare Retardant for some), then using the energy to crack the planet apart releasing an Eldritch Abomination, followed by Sonic transforming into the Werehog before Eggman sends him out the airlock and he plummets to Earth.

The Nightmare enemies in general.

Nintendo Hard: The Playstation 3/Xbox 360 non-story Acts, Eggman Land, and Dark Gaia. The Day rankings can also be soul crushingly brutal.

Popular with Furries: This game introduced the Werehog design for Sonic. Furries took to him very well, either because they like werewolves or because they like how Sonic looks that way.

Medal collecting is highly despised, as it is required in order to get into new levels, and finding the medals frequently requires the player to slow down and explore. It's more bearable in the Wii/PlayStation 2 version as the medals are awarded for clearing stages instead.

Many have complained about how Quick Time Events are overused, especially in the later levels.

Signature Scene: The Werehog segments, Eggman Land, and the Gaia Colossus (otherwise known as the Gaia Temple Megazord).

So OK It's Average: The game is kind of split between a portion that people love (the Daytime stages) and a portion that mostly people hate (the Night stages), so it's kind of got a mixed bag reputation among the fanbase.

Squick: Perfect Dark Gaia. He opens his mouth and seven freakishly huge eyes come out, surrounded by masses of tongues, as well as two pairs of arms that literally rip through the skin of his body and make a bloody mess. You eventually defeat him... by ramming said eyes. Blergh.

Eggman Land: 15+ minutes of nonstop Platform Hell, instant death-on-fail quick-time events, vicious combat, and (in the HD version) constant Sonic-Werehog shift. Fitting as it was the culmination of several attempts by Eggman across several games.

Dragon Road Night Act 3 (The Wii version, at least). The level doesn't get so bad until you get to a part where you have to fight a bunch of enemies on platforms with no safe ground below you, and it can be frustrating as most attacks move you forward and closer to the edge of a platform, some of which aren't that big, and it can be easy to accidentally dash and start running too fast and right off the platform.

Jungle Joyride Day Act 1. At first, it's not so bad; a fair quick-stepping challenge with a lot of alternate paths to go through. But when you get to the water-running sections, it starts getting difficult for first-time players due to those sections' awkward sense of direction. Also, the stage is marred by more framerate issues than any part of the game, which can definitely throw you off.

That One Boss: Dark Gaia. The Chip segments are easy, but the Sonic segments require you to rush over to Dark Gaia's eye within a very short amount of time, and it's near impossible to do.

That One Sidequest: The Shamar quest "Save Yasmine". A timed course lasting two minutes, and all but the most skilled players will need every second. The course lasts much longer than other timed challeneges, and there's next to no margin of error. To make it even more frustrating, beating it requires finding a shortcut near the beginning that you're only likely to find by complete accident, as it requires making a jump after going through a loop. In game full of punishing sidequests, this one takes the cake.

They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Some who don't hate the Werehog gameplay itself instead wish that it was given to a different character whose abilities actually revolve around fighting and feel that the Beat 'em Up gameplay wouldn't get as much backlash that way. Knuckles is the most common candidate, considering that he's shown to be the most adept fistfighter of the cast.

Many people who replay it later on find that it is much more fun than it was on the first run. Because of the game's difficulty (especially in later stages), it can be frustrating to play at first, but practicing the game's breakneck speed, it becomes a lot of fun to just speed through the level.

Visual Effects of Awesome: It says quite a lot that a late 2008 title still holds up as the most dazzling Sonic game to look at. The CGI is gorgeous, the lighting, especially at night, is atmospheric, the models are very detailed, and is able to render at full 1080p. Sonic Team seems to have gone out of its way to show off the Hedgehog Engine, and succeeded.

What Happened to the Mouse?: At the very start of the game, Eggman has a massive fleet of armed starships, a huge orbital cannon, and some kind of telescoping space station. They receive literally no mention for the rest of the series.

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